Actuators such as hydraulic valves used in vehicles in anti-lock braking systems (ABS), traction control systems, stability control systems, and other systems typically use electrically-controlled sliding plungers to selectively permit or prevent fluid flow through the actuator under particular circumstances, as required for the application. As recognized herein, to do this an actuator plunger may define a valve element that mates with a valve seat defined by a rigid plate. When the plunger slides to a closed configuration, the valve element of the plunger mates with the seat to block fluid flow through the seat.
The present invention understands that relatively precise alignment must be maintained between the plunger and valve seat, to ensure that the valve element mates properly with the seat. This typically requires the maintaining of relatively small tolerances, which increases manufacturing costs. As understood herein, it would be advantageous to absorb some misalignment between the plunger and valve seat and permit relaxed alignment tolerances.